Those are beautiful! I moved into a house 2 years ago that has a lovely collection of Trillium. I don't know what species, but they have been multiplying by seeds. I hope I will have a patch as nice as yours some day.

Martha

Those are beautiful. I had a T grandiflora (single normal flower) that I was proud had over 6 years or so, divided itself into 3 crowns (lol).
At least it flowered every year and was slowly increasing. However, that looks like nothing to your clump :)

So, please tell how you manage to propagate them. I'm all ears.

Dandy - my plants that have formed clumps are dug when they are going dormant for the season, and that is usually sometime in late August or September. The rhizome of a trillium will have a main center growth with the offsets clustered around it - I have never divided them with a knife, instead I break them apart with my hands making a natural division where the roots most easily split when given pressure. Each division has to have a growing point or eye for the following year's leafy growth. Knock on wood, I haven't lost any of the divisions to disease or any critters. I have my stock plants growing in ground beds where the soil is a well drained sandy loam - I fertilize them at least once early in the season with Millorganite which keeps them nice and green and also helps keep the deer away. (Trillium = deer candy) To be extra safe I throw netting over the plants and haven't lost any of them to grazers.
The plants in my first pic are actually growing in pots, the soil mix used is called Fafard 52 which is a soil mix used in the perennial production industry - trillium seem right at home{{gwi:807}} in it, but are at their best when growing in the ground with real soil. There is nothing magic or secret to growing trillium - it is pretty simple and straight forward stuff. One key factor is patience, they grow slowly at first settling in and becoming established, but once they are given the conditons they like, they will take off and multiply fairly quickly.
Here is another shot of some of my troupe, the smaller plants in the background are growing in 3 1/2" sized pots (all needing to be shifted into larger pots) and the plants in the front are happily growing in 4 1/2 X 5" pots.My potted material gets put into a trench in the autumn and covered with soil for the winter - when signs of life return in the spring they are dug up and put in a spot that gets half a day of direct morning and later afternoon filtered sunshine. They are shade plants but I think the more sun you can give them without burning them the better. Thanks for all the nice compliments.

This post was edited by jebfarm on Sat, Jan 18, 14 at 14:33

Wonderful to look at, and it represents good work on your part.

I invested in buying the doubles one year, but although the leaves return, I have never had a flower. No problem with other Trilliums. I am going to try using the fertilizer you suggested (thanks!) as I have so many deer on the property. If I remember to spray, they leave the Trilliums alone, but if I forget to repeat the application, the deer are back within two months.

Oh, here in zone 7 my T. decipens are already up, in spite of our recent 6 degree weather a few weeks ago.

Thanks for brightening our cold winter days.

Those are so beautiful. I just added T. recurvatum and T. sessile last year. My luteum is making a huge clump. Now I want to add more after seeing your wonderful display. Thanks for sharing.

I've been looking for native "bulbs". I purchased some trillium corms, among others. Unfortunately the place I purchased them from has erratic shipping policies and they arrived at bad times of year (late summer and winter) and were tiny. I planted them under some trees and bushes near the driveway. We'll see if any survive my mistretment.

Actually for spring ephemerals, that's excellent planting time.

Trillium are fairly tough plants as long as they have good drainage. I have dug and moved the plants from the time they sprout in the spring to when they are dormant in the summer, but it is always best (and easiest) not fool around with them unless they are dormant. The rhizomes should have a healthy root system attached to them year - round, sort of like a true lily bulb.
I was fortunate as a kid to have had the woods and ravines I used to visit full of Trillium grandiflorum. The hill sides were covered with white in the spring - it was a real treat for me, and is a wonderful memory.
Here is another pic of 'Otis Bigelow.'

Nice close up...I think I prefer the single form though. I find the same in peonies and sometimes roses (though I do like the tight cup double forms).

Thanks - I agree with with you that most flowers are more graceful and attractive when single petaled, it is somehow easier on your aesthetics. Double flowered forms of some things last longer in the garden, and that is a plus but give me single flowered hollyhocks over those foofy looking doubles! My favorite rose of all time is Betty Prior and it is a single that is visually amazing. It is all a matter of taste, and that varies a lot. Now I have that song stuck in my head "Everything is beautiful, in its own waaa - aaaay."

Well again, some of the hollyhocks have a tight cup shape double that I like...but in general, oh yeah...singles :)
In fact, I really should order some seeds for a good strain of Alcea ficifolia....singles of course :)

Nice work, Jeb. One thing occurred to me reading this thread, and that is, I wonder what, if any connections may exist between this and other woodland understory plants, and micorrhyzal fungi. After all, as time goes on, research is unearthing a vast and seemingly ubiquitous array of these symbiotic associates, and woodlands are full of such relationships.

On the other hand, your tech just the way it is seems to be a great success, so maybe this is unnecessary. Or, maybe spores are floating aorund in your production area such that the fungi are colonizing the growing media in your pots.

Just a thought..........I have a great interest in such matters.

+oM

Thanks for the compliment +om. There has to be some kind of connection with the organisms in the soil to the plant life it supports. I have a confession to make - I am 5th generation on the family farm, and my trillium propagation beds are located where my great - great grandparents started dumping cow manure (from the family's milk cow) and chicken manure 125 years ago. The area I live in used to be a big producer of potatoes and the soil is very loose and friable. Most things grow here fairly well and some can get out of control if not watched. Still fighting wisteria and trumpet vine. I have seen the mycorrhizal fungus here eat everything from cardboard to a full bale of straw in about a year and a half if the ground stays moist enough. The funny thing is that there usually isn't a large volume of humus left as a result. I am wondering if I possibly have exotic introduced earthworms eating it all - but that is a whole other topic! In areas that I plant out in the field I see irregular shaped rings and ribbons of mycelium growing on the exposed soil out in the full sun. When the moisture levels are right I have found white threads under the flats that I have the trillium growing in now that you mention it. As you know all healthy soil is very alive - it can almost be compared to the life forms found in the oceans - who knows what medicines and cures or undiscovered chemicals are in the ground. It is something to think about. There is so much more that we don't know than what we do!

Interesting observations. As regards earthworms, I was just at a seminar where I learned, much to my surprise, that pretty much all of the earthworms we see, for example here in the state of Wisconsin, are imported species. I'm still sorting this out. I knew the larger nightcrawlers were non-native, but so too are the semi-transparent mid-sized, and most of the little red worms too. Crazy stuff. Talk about a successful invasion!

And the point with that is that in forest ecosystems, organic debri is indeed being recycled much faster than was formerly true. As a gardener with a proclivity towards organic growing methods, etc. I always viewed worms as our friends. I'm much less sure of that now.

As regards micorrhyzal associates, this, I think, is one of the most fascinating things going on-seperate fungal species working with seperate tree species, etc. Just almost unbelievable. And things like chemical fertilizers, do no good in fostering such relationships. To break things down to a simple level-and this is for forest trees-what seems to be happening is that these fungal associates are more efficient than are tree roots at extracting primarily phosphates from the soil. They supply the fine feeder roots with this mineral nutrient, and the trees in turn supply the symbiotic fungus with carbohydrates-photosynthate, or sugars-in return. I do know that amongst my favorite conifer species, there is a separate species of bolete-a visible mushroom-which works in concert. So white pine will have one kind of mushroom under it in the fall, and tamarack another, etc.

I've got fairy rings under pine and cedar in my woods in N.E. WI. I have not yet ID'd the species of mushroom, but it is almost surely micorrhyzal with one or more of those tree types.

Keep up the good growing! I'm more of a single-flower guy too, but variety is indeed the spice of life. And more importantly, just having a growing system that is working for a normally finicky native forb is quite an achievement!

+oM

Wow, I need to find a source to get some of these. Very showy! Or trade for some, something. Very nice and thank you for sharing with us - they are lovely and obviously you are doing a great job with them!

Whoa, never mind. Googling up sources suggests these are way out of my price range, haha. Enjoy! They are lovely.

Hi Jeb, Impressive, a friend interested in trilliums sent me the link to this page. We both collect rare & unusual T's. I have two other dbl grandiflorum clones & have been searching for Otis for years. Can't believe how many you have. I'd like to either buy one from you if you're willing to ship, or have you tell me where you got the original, or maybe trade, if you're into that. We should talk. Best, TG.

Trillium Geek - I won't have any extra plants available until later next year. You strike me as someone that just won't take no for an answer, so get me your email somehow and thanks for the interest.

This post was edited by jebfarm on Mon, Nov 24, 14 at 20:18

More than happy to do that with a couple of caveats....I just moved from NYS to S Oregon. My two dbls just came across a month or so ago. They haven't even spent a year in the ground here, one of them, flore pleno, is the most common dbl out there & may well be the other one you have. I am pretty sure I have offsets of that so that's not a problem. The other one is 'snow bunting' & I only have the original rhizome it hasn't made offsets yet altho my plan is to divide it this coming year. This was a swap also. More than happy to trade both, but it may take some time for s.b. I have some other plants you might be interested in as well. Happy to trade any or all.Let me know.

wisconsontio, I've started thinking about micorrhyzal. Whay types of mushrooms are associated with White Pine? I might want to scatter some spores around...

That's a tough question, Ed. Very generally the boletes, ie Suillus, etc. and others, are associated with pine-family members. This is tricky stuff though..........we don't even know at this time whether or not the addition of spores or other propagules into a given system even works. If similar but native fungi are already in the area, any addition we might make could be either A) Completely ineffective, or B) counterproductive, if, in some manner, the new guy competes too strongly with fungi already present. We just don't know that much yet, except to say, these relationships are out there, they are happening everywhere we look (Pretty much), and to top it off, it appears likely that mycorrhizal fungi interact with each other within a stand of trees as well. IT's a bugger to sort through!

I've got a rather nondescript white-capped mushroom-it's the one making fairy rings-right smack-dab in the center of a grove of white pines. I used to belong to the Wisconsin Mycological Society, yet I must admit, most wild shrooms still puzzle me as to their identity. So I guess what I'm saying is, I've got something there that does indeed appear to be working with the pines, but I haven't id'd it down to genus, let alone species. Sorry.

The boletes are non-gilled mushrooms, having instead pores on the undersurface of the caps from which spores are emitted. But there's a ton of species. I'd have to get way more into it than I am at present to know what's what. There should be, however, some fairly detailed info available online regarding this. I've never gone down that path because I mostly think, if a species of fungus would be working with the root systems of the trees in my forest, I'm pretty sure it's already there....no need for human intervention.

Where the addition of mycorrhizal propagules HAS shown direct success is in sterile soils, soils where presumably, there are no microorganisms present, places such as old mine tailings piles, pure sand, etc. In those situations, the addition of human-prepared mycorrhizal spores, etc. has been shown to work wonders. In anything less than that, ie. fairly normal soils, soils with lots of plant life already present, the truth seems to be that any needed mycorrhyzal associates are most likely already present.

Maybe talk to the guys at Itascagreenhouse.com. Forget the fellow's name right now, but I think he's done as much as just about anybody in trying to work with mycorrs. He also has preparations available, so whatever strains of fungus those things are must be some that are thought to be effective in this manner.

+oM

Yes, Jeb, e-mail me, address in profile.

No, your email address is not in your profile - don't have any way of contacting you.

Well, I'm not sure what is going on, when I look at my profile it is there, please give it another shot. TG.

Hi jebfarm,
I'm very interested in getting some plants of this cultivar if you could help me with a source. I grow several double T. grandiflora but haven't heard of this clone. It appears to be a wonderful grower which many of the doubles are not. You can contact me at wildflowerman_2000@yahoo.com.
regards,
Mark (wildflowerman_2000)

Hi Jebfarm, forum appears to have gone silent, too bad, I am following up on our discussion of last year, in which you said that you would have some of Otis available later in 2015. I'm not sure what 'later' constitutes, but thought I'd get back to you & let you know I'm still interested. So, let me know what is going on please. Thank You trilliumgeek

Hi TG--I'm in contact with Jeb, who asked me to say that he is no longer a member on these forums, but if you either post your email address here, or send it to me privately, I'll see that he gets it. He has no other way to contact you.

I encourage people to enable email on their profile pages--private messages are not possible otherwise.

Rick in CT

Im very interested in buying these. I cant seem to send or receive messages here. My email is solomon.d.goldberg@gmail.com

Aw tell Jeb he is missed and hope he still doing what he loves! Thanks Rick

Hi Jeb! Beautiful work! I am a first-timer...planted about 50 rhizomes in dappled shade areas in late fall and as of mid-March, there's no sign of them! Should I despair or keep hoping!!?

Fafard sold to Sungro, and I can no longer find it. another suggestion from jeb or anyone? i am still trying to grow from seed...a slow process...some success, but not much.My favorite that I would like to increase is T. flexipes.

Fafard sold to Sungro and i cannot find it.

If you are interested in Trilliums, read this:https://mail.aol.com/d/list/referrer=newMail&folders=1&accountIds=1&listFilter=NEWMAIL/messages/AF2dY6MI0bXXZfWKPQpUiLPKptY

hey lso sell most of these, at high prices.

Wow, I am surprised that there is interest in this thread, I had posted this ten years ago!

I took a break from this site for years, but I am back with a slightly different screen name. I am still growing many of the double flowered trillium. It is my understanding that it is against the rules to be selling any plant material here on GardenWeb, and when this was originally posted ten years ago it brought out a number of people that thought because I was growing so many of these that I would agree to trade it for something that I had no interest in, or that I would just send them some because I had so many. That was a learning experience for me!

Here in Ohio bagged Fafard soil mixes are still available, I don't remember which exact mix I used for pot culture, but it was one formulated for containerized perennial plants. Trillium would probably do well in any soil mix that has a percentage of fine bark in it, and one that drains well. Over the winter I would "trench" my potted trillium burying the pots in the ground just under the rim of the pot. It has been my experience that rodents have no interest in their rhizomes, there is a large population of voles and chipmunks here that have never ever bothered any of my trillium. It is the deer you have to watch out for - I think they can smell trillium for miles and are attracted to it like a magnet once it is producing leaves and flowers. Last spring I had deer eat a section of my trillium bed down to the ground and will put up fencing this year as soon as I see them starting to grow. They don't usually show any signs of growth above the ground until the beginning of April here, so don't despair, it is still early in the season. Be patient and they will grow for you.

Here are pictures of my trillium bed last spring, this is Phlox divaricata 'Blue Moon' that blooms at the same time and is a nice companion plant.

Thank you, Jeb!!!Your patch is still going strong! That's wonderful! I appreciate your help and input. I'll wait in hope :) Excited!